SHOPPING HOME
      <<<   YOU ARE HERE

Shopper's Delight

The Classical Store


 
Search Results:

Displaying records 1 through 10 of 2553
First      Previous
Next      Last

 

  O Holy Night / Luciano Pavarotti / Special Deluxe Edition (Decca)

 
O Holy Night / Luciano Pavarotti / Special Deluxe Edition (Decca) under The Classical Store
Price: $17.98
Sale: $8.24
 
Manufacturer: Decca
 
Description: This CD is a compilation of (mainly) devotional music sung by Pavarotti when he was in or near his prime, most going back, gloriously, to 1976. Precisely what Orfeo's lament (from the Gluck opera) is doing in a recital called "O Holy Night" is beyond me, but the rest of the selections are well chosen. The title song is gorgeously enough performed to be worth the album's asking price, the tenor's voice ringing out with great clarity and beauty, and the selection from Rossini's Stabat Mater is even more thrilling, with its ascent to high D flat near its close. Verdi's "Ingemisco," from his Requiem, is handsomely and sensitively delivered, and the others elections, with or without choir, are simply stunning. A CD for Christmas and the rest of the year as well. --Robert Levine

 

  Pavarotti's Greatest Hits

 
Pavarotti's Greatest Hits under The Classical Store
Price: $17.98
Sale: $10.99
 
Manufacturer: Decca
 
Description: Here's a feast of great tenor singing. It's also a feast of thrills--one selection after another offers Pavarotti's remarkable, full-throated excitement in the music, whether the infectious spirit of his renditions of Neapolitan songs or the trumpet-like High C's he effortlessly tears off in the extended scene from Donizetti's La fille du regiment. Apparent throughout is Pavarotti's big-hearted emotional generosity that infuses this superb collection with an immediacy and communicative power that's impossible to resist. Of course, "Nessun dorma!" is here to lead off the set with the tenor's biggest hit, but his other Puccini arias are, if anything, even more compelling. Verdi is represented by such well-loved Pavarotti favorites as "La donna è mobile" and "Questa o quella" from Rigoletto. He's as compelling in the "Ingemisco" from Verdi's Requiem, the voice blooming in the "Inter oves" section and then fined down to a gorgeous pianissimo. But there's not a single weak track on these discs, whose attractions are enhanced by full texts and translations. --Dan Davis

 

  The Most Relaxing Classical Music in the Universe

 
The Most Relaxing Classical Music in the Universe under The Classical Store
Price: $11.98
Sale: $8.53
 
Manufacturer: Denon Records
 

 

  Andrea Bocelli - Sacred Arias / Myung-Whun Chung

 
Andrea Bocelli - Sacred Arias / Myung-Whun Chung under The Classical Store
Price: $18.98
Sale: $9.36
 
Manufacturer: Philips
 
Description: When he was growing up, Andrea Bocelli recalls finding inspiration in a favorite recording of sacred music performed by tenor legend Franco Corelli. Bocelli--who in the meantime has come to inspire millions of fiercely loyal fans himself--returns to the genre as the guiding theme of Sacred Arias, the release of which coincides with the first English-language biography of the singer. These performances are filled with the singer's phenomenally well-known vocal signature: his flair for long, sweetly floating high notes and the gentle sense of cadence he brings to a melody. It's a mistake to compartmentalize Bocelli into a singer of "operatic" versus "popular" styles: in truth his approach is at heart the same. Lack of color and control in his phrasing remains a drawback, but the emotional empathy Bocelli evokes is never in doubt. The arias collected here sample some of the most famous devotional pieces: Schubert's "Ave Maria" and Mozart's transporting "Ave Verum," as well as an arrangement of "Silent Night" in which Bocelli tries out his English. There's also a decidedly odd choice of bedfellows for a program of "sacred" music, such as a song from Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder (whose "angel" is the object of an overpoweringly erotic attraction) and Handel's figurative ode to a tree, "Ombra mai fu." Still, Bocelli sings with an unfeigned directness that is sure to expand his already enormous following even further. --Thomas May

 

  Baby Einstein: Lullaby Classics, Vol. 2

 
Baby Einstein: Lullaby Classics, Vol. 2 under The Classical Store
Price: $6.98
Sale: $3.34
 
Brand: BABY EINSTEIN
Manufacturer: Buena Vista
 
Description: \N

 

  The #1 Opera Album

 
The #1 Opera Album under The Classical Store
Price: $17.98
Sale: $9.83
 
Manufacturer: Decca
 
Description: The labels that are now gathered under the Universal Classics umbrella have a pretty impressive scorecard in the area of classical compilations. We've seen The Greatest Opera Show on Earth, The Yellow Guide: Classical Music, Best of the Millennium, and now there's The No. 1 Opera Album. But that's no surprise, since Universal has some of the finest interpreters in its catalogue to draw from. This two-CD set (at the price of one), for example, brings together the likes of Cecilia Bartoli, Renée Fleming, Luciano Pavarotti, Kiri Te Kanawa, Sir Georg Solti, Herbert von Karajan, and many more. Yet the other key to a successful compilation is canny anthologizing, and here again, you have a nice selection to give you a smattering of opera's heavyweights from the Italian, German, and French repertory (there's even a step outside the standard framework with an aria from Dvorák's lovely Rusalka). Ranging from 1959 to 1997, the choices from back catalogue will doubtless be the entry ticket for many into this grandest of the arts. --Sarah Chin

 

  Christmas Adagios

 
Christmas Adagios under The Classical Store
Price: $17.98
Sale: $11.02
 
Manufacturer: Decca
 

 

  Christmas with Mario Lanza

 
Christmas with Mario Lanza under The Classical Store
Price: $9.98
Sale: $3.61
 
Manufacturer: RCA
 

 

  Sacred Arias [Special Edition with Bonus DVD]

 
Sacred Arias [Special Edition with Bonus DVD] under The Classical Store
Price: $26.98
Sale: $15.99
 
Manufacturer: Philips
 
Description: When he was growing up, Andrea Bocelli recalls finding inspiration in a favorite recording of sacred music performed by tenor legend Franco Corelli. Bocelli--who in the meantime has come to inspire millions of fiercely loyal fans himself--returns to the genre as the guiding theme of Sacred Arias. These performances are filled with the singer's phenomenally well-known vocal signature: his flair for long, sweetly floating high notes and the gentle sense of cadence he brings to a melody. It's a mistake to compartmentalize Bocelli into a singer of "operatic" versus "popular" styles: in truth his approach is at heart the same. Lack of color and control in his phrasing remains a drawback, but the emotional empathy Bocelli evokes is never in doubt. The arias collected here sample some of the most famous devotional pieces: Schubert's "Ave Maria" and Mozart's transporting "Ave Verum," as well as an arrangement of "Silent Night" in which Bocelli tries out his English. There's also a decidedly odd choice of bedfellows for a program of "sacred" music, such as a song from Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder (whose "angel" is the object of an overpoweringly erotic attraction) and Handel's figurative ode to a tree, "Ombra mai fu." Still, Bocelli sings with an unfeigned directness that is sure to expand his already enormous following even further. This new special edition includes two bonus tracks on a CD enhanced with a picture gallery as well as a full-length DVD of Bocelli in concert filmed at the Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome. --Thomas May

 

  A Christmas Celebration: Kathleen Battle

 
A Christmas Celebration: Kathleen Battle under The Classical Store
Price: $16.98
Sale: $5.99
 
Manufacturer: EMI Classics
 

First      Previous
Next      Last
Displaying records 1 through 10 of 2553